Successful SpaceX launch ends with fallen rocket – ZDNet.be

A volcanic island that promises Elon Musk himself when SpaceX finally succeed after a rocket to launch soft paws down on a landing platform in the middle of the ocean. He will have earned a third attempt to get a Falcon 9 countries for reuse again ended in fragments

Almost …

SpaceX has been trying since the beginning of this year. first and largest stage of the Falcon 9 rocket to leave to return to Earth for reuse. Musk and commercial space company want those stairs halfway launch as usual disconnect. Then the rocket motor to slow down half a rocket and adjust, and she finally has to come down to a landingsplatformpje in the middle of the ocean.

Everything looked good for this effort: it was the weather and the launch went smoothly after a day of delay. “Good luck, Stage One,” it sounded just three minutes after launch from the mouth of Mission Control when the first stage was released from the second stage. The piece rocket slowed, made his way through the atmosphere and actually ended just above the landing ship, in itself an achievement.

… but just not

a moment it seemed that the reusable rocket was truly born. Unlike the explosive first landing attempt in January, the first stage have enough fuel on board to come down gently on the ship. Unfortunately, the lateral velocity of the landing was too large of settling the excessive momentum meant that the Falcon 9 omtotterde without glory

The above Vine comes from Elon Musk, that the probability of success of the attempt. still rated at 50/50. We can not speak of a failure. Landing attempt happened as addendum of the CRS-6 mission: the primary mission of the Falcon 9 was to shoot the Dragon spacecraft from SpaceX to the ISS for supply purposes, and that mission went weeral flawless

Thrice. lucky

It is the third time that the experiment of SpaceX failed. The first attempt ended in a fireball, the second in the water. During the second attempt but the weather was too bad, so could not go on the landing platform and the Falcon 9 was sent into the water intentionally. Technically, a “third time lucky”, so still possible.

Later this week, SpaceX Falcon 9 launches again, this time with a satellite on board. A landing attempt is not made: the planned path of the satellite requires the Falcon 9 every drop of fuel exhaustion, leaving nothing left to lead the return of the first step in the right direction. The next landing attempt will is tentatively scheduled for June 13 in the framework of the seventh resupply mission to the ISS on behalf of NASA. CRS 7